I finished Captain America #22 just now, and for the umpteenth time, am wondering just how hard it is to keep track of which Marvel characters are in what condition. Spoilers below.

Can't there just be a roster somewhere? A google spreadsheet that updates whenever a character's going through a major change? To wit: a while back in Uncanny Avengers, the new Red Skull got his hand cut off. By Wolverine.

That one right there. The comic in which it happened was written over a year ago, by Rick Remender.

Big Red's wearing the same outfit he was then, hanging out with the same cronies he pulled together for UA. Now, in Captain America, he's trading bon mots with Arnim Zola, sipping whiskey with the hand he lost. If that's not enough, Captain America's also being written by Rick Remender.

Comic book franchises claim that continuity's important, don't they? Once upon a time, I recall Spider-Man swinging along in Amazing Spider-Man, thinking to himself about recent events that had happened in Spectacular Spider-Man, etc. The events happening to the character in one book impacted him in others. These little comments were accompanied by narrative texts, asterisked by the editor.

Enjoying a story requires suspension of disbelief. In order to suspend that disbelief, there needs to be some continuity. Unless the Red Skull had a replacement hand grafted on at some point, this is just sloppy, lazy, or apathetic. Take your pick.

I mean— if the Red Skull was actually still missing his hand in Captain America, wouldn't that actually draw readers from one title to the other? [Red Skull lost his hand in Uncanny Avengers #3.]